Asian Film Awards: 'Golden Era' leads with 5 nominations

"The Golden Era"

The nominees for the 9th Asian Film Awards have been announced on Wednesday. The awards are presented every year by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society and recognizes excellence in Asian cinema.

This year, Hong Kong Director Ann Hui's biopic "The Golden Era" tops the nomination list.

"The Golden Era", a period drama about China's most influential female novelist, Xiao Hong, is nominated for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenwriter and Best Editor in this year's 9th Asian Film Awards.

However, it fell short in the Best Film category. Nominees in that category, including China's "Black Coal, Thin Ice," "Blind Massage" and India's "Haider," still trail behind with four nominations.

42 films from eight countries competed for recognition, and in the end 74 nominations in 14 categories were announced on Wednesday.

The winners will be selected by a panel of 14 jury members, with Hong Kong Director Mabel Cheung serving as this year's Jury president.

She's currently working with Chinese actress Tang Wei on a new film and was particularly excited about her Best Actress nomination. However, Cheung insisted that she intends to keep her personal feelings out of the judging process.

"In my heart, she's already a great actress, so it doesn't matter if she wins this year. She learns so quickly and she's a very hard working actress. I have not seen an actress who pours her heart into her roles as much as (Tang) does." she said.

Hong Kong singer-turned-actress Ivana Wong is new to acting but has been receiving a lot of buzz for her performance in the comedy "Golden Chickensss."

"It's a huge honor to be nominated. I won't ask for more. If I win, I'll think of it as a bonus. If I get a chance to go up on stage, I have a lot of people to thank. If not, I will find a way to thank the people I worked with." said Ivana Wong, nominee for "Best Newcomer".

The Asian Film Awards will be handed out on March 25th in Macao.